Prescription file.



J. D. MULLOY. PRESCRIPTION FILE. APPLIOATION PILEI] DEC. 31, 19-10.

" 991 ,348. Patented May 2, 1911.

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.9 h I M E JOHN D. MULLOY, 0F PORTLAND, OREGON.

PRESCRIPTION-FILE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 2, 1911.

Application filed December 31, 1910. Serial No. 600,240.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN D. MULLoY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Portland, in the county of Multnomah and State of Oregon,have invented new and useful Improvements in Prescription-Files, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in filing cases and envelops, andthe invention is primarily directed to that class of files employed bydruggists for retaining physicians prescriptions.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a filing case whereinany desired prescription may be obtained with a minimum amount of timeand labor.

With the above and other objects in view which will appear as thedescription progresses, the invention resides in the novel constructionand arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described and particularlypointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings there has been illustrated a simple andpreferred embodiment of the improvement and in which drawings,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a filing cabinet constructed inaccordance with the present invention, one of the containers or pocketsbeing withdrawn from the casing so that the prescription therein may beremoved. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken through thecontainer guiding and sustaining members. Fig. 3 is a detail perspectiveview of one of the containers. Fig. 4 is a central horizontallysectional view taken through one of the cabinets and through thecontainers positioned therein. Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinalsectional view of the container illustrated in Fig. 4, a prescriptionbeing shown within the said container. Fig. 6 is a front elevation of amodified form of the device.

The ordinary manner of filing prescriptions commonly employed by mostdruggists consists of a single strand of wire, having one of its endscurved in the form of a gooseneck and its opposite end provided with asuit-able enlargement. The prescription after having been filled by thedruggist is simply slipped upon the gooseneck, the lowermostprescription resting upon the enlargement provided at the base or lowerportion of the wire. The gooseneck is sustained from a suitable support,such as a nail or the like, and all of the prescriptions are filed oneafter another according to the time they are received. WVith this methodit requires quite an amount of time and labor to find a certainprescription which is to be refilled. When the prescription has beenlocated it is necessary to remove the same as well as the number ofprescriptions positioned upon the wire above the said requiredprescription so that the ingredients to be mixed by the druggist may bereadily discernible. In some cases the uppermost prescriptions aresimply raised and any handy device placed between the prescription to befilled and the said raised prescriptions. Both of the methods abovedescribed are not only undesirable for the length of time required tolocate the prescription, but in the first instance all of theprescriptions must be replaced in their proper order upon the file. Thistends to mutilate the pre scription and renders the titles of some ofthe medicaments indiscernible, so that the said prescriptions becomepractically useless, and in some instances the druggist, endeavoring todecipher the medicament, may

arrive at a wrong conclusion and consequently the prescription is notproperly refilled. This is, of course, very dangerous, as quite a numberof medicines have titles differentiating by only a single letter, someof these medicines being harmless, while others are poisonous. When thedruggist employs a support to sustain the upper prescriptions away fromthe prescription to be refilled, the said support possibly obliteratesthe titles of the medicines to be compounded and it will be readilyperceptible that this method is not only crude but has a tendency toconfusethe druggist as well as leading to errors in the proper refillingof the prescription.

It is the object of the present invention to obviate the deficiencies aswell as the liability of the mistakes above enumerated and to accomplishthis I have provided a cabinet or casing designated by the numeral 1.The said cabinet 1 is preferably of a rectangular formation and isalso'formed with a plurality of compartments 2, two of which being shownin the drawings and deemed sufficient to set forth the structure. Eachof the compartments 2 is normally closed through the medium of asuitable door 3 and each of said doors is preferably spring-pressed sothat the said doors are normally in a closed position. Positioned withineach of the compartments 2 is a pair of vertically projecting guidemembers 4, the latter being secured to the bottom of the casing 2 andextending upwardly and having their free ends positioned within suitabledepressions 5 formed in the hinged top 6 of the casing. The members 4are adapted to serve as guides for the plurality of containers 7. Eachof the containers 7 is provided with longitudinally extending slots 8,the same being positioned adjacent each of the longitudinal edges of thesaid container. The container 7 comprises an upper and lower memberdesignated respectively by the numerals 9 and 10. The said members 9 and10 have all of their edges connected together so as to provide asuitable pocket. The upper member 9 adjacent the outer edge thereof iscut away as at 11 to provide a space whereby the finger of the operatormay be inserted when any of the prescriptions positioned within the saidpocket are to be withdrawn. The upper member 9 adjacent the said cutaway portion 11 is slitted both longitudinally and transversely toprovide the sealing flap 12, and projecting from the forward end of thesaid container is a tab 13, the same being provided with a designatingnumeral 14:.

The prescriptions within the container are all stamped with a suitabledesignating numeral and the said numerals are adapted to correspond withthe designating numeral 14; upon the tab 13. For instance, the tab uponthe container is provided with a designating numeral 5 and in this casethe prescriptions adapted to be inserted within the pocket of thecontainer are stamped with a suitable number commencing with the numeral5. By this arrangement it will be noted that any desired prescriptionmay be readily obtained by simply glancing at the number with which thesaid prescription is marked and the proper container may be readilyslipped through the open doorway of the cabinet and the prescriptioneasily and quickly withdrawn.

In some instances the solid doors of each of the compartments of thecabinet may be dispensed with and substituted therefor, is a pluralityof resilient wire U-shaped doors or closures 15, the same being arrangedupon the opposite sides of the compartments and having their extremitiesprovided with springs 16, whereby the wire doors may be swung to formclosures to prevent the accidental sliding of any of the containers 7.The closures 15 are adapted to sustain a given number of prescriptions,and as heretofore stated, any desired one of the numbered prescriptionsmay be obtained by opening the wire doors or closures 15.

Upon each of the pages when spread, are the indicating characters,designating in the device illustrated prescriptions from 1 to 8 and eachof the pockets or compartments is provided with the number of theprescription, the name of the doctor and the date. The leaves areprovided with tabs extending beyond the face of the book and these tabsare provided with designating numbers so that the book may be swung opento obtain a prescription of any desired number.

By this arrangement it will be apparent that the prescriptions withinthe compartments may be readily and quickly obtained by merely openingthe book at the indicating tab, and it is believed that the simplicityof the structure as well as the advantages presented thereby will beapparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains.

It will be noted that the structure is extremely simple, requires theuse of no especial tools and may be constructed by any person acquaintedwith the details of the device. It is to be further noted that the tabs13 are staggered so that all of the designating numerals will beperfectly apparent as soon as the door of the cabinet is thrown open.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new, is

1. In a device for the purpose set forth, a cabinet, said cabinet havinga normally open front and a normally open top, closures for the top andfront, a plurality of containers slidably mounted within the cabinet,each of said containers being formed upon its upper face with a flapextending toward one end thereof, and a tab provided with a designatingnumeral secured to the container.

2. In a device for the purpose set forth, a cabinet, said cabinet beingformed with a normally open top and front, doors for the top and front,guiding members secured to the bottom of the cabinet, the door for thetop being formed with pockets adapted to receive the upper ends of theguides, a plurality of containers within the compartments, each of saidcontainers being provided with a longitudinally extending cut awayportion adjacent each of its edges, the upper face of each of thecontainers being slitted to provide a flap, the upper portion of thecontainers being still further cut away from the flap to provide afinger receptacle, the said containers having their longitudinallyextending slotted portions passed over the guide members, each of thecontainers being formed with an outwardly projecting tab, each of thetabs being provided with a designating number, and all of the tabs beingarranged in staggered re- 1 lation so that the numbers upon all of thetabs are discernible when the door is opened.

3. In a device of the class set forth, a cabinet, a plurality oflongitudinally movable containers positioned within the cabinet, each ofsaid containers being formed to sustain the containers within the. com-With a pocket a flap constructed upon the partments. 10 upper surface ofthe body of each of the In testimony whereof I aflix my signaturecontainers normally closing the pocket, a in presence of two Witnesses.

; tab for each of the containers, said tabs be- JOHN D. MULLOY.

ing arranged in a staggered relation Where- Witnesses: by all the tabsare discernible, and oppo- CHESTER V. DoLPH, sitely disposedspring-pressed doors adapted B. B. MCCARTHY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

